US Officials Trip Over Own Lies About ‘Warning Russia’ Ahead of Concert Hall Attack

US officials and media have found it difficult getting their story straight regarding how much Washington knew about the Moscow terror plot before it transpired.

“I am not going to speak to intelligence information from here. I think that’s – I’ve always made that pretty clear,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Thursday, commenting on a New York Times report citing senior US and European officials indicating that the US did not share all the information it had about the plot “out of fear Russian authorities might learn their intelligence sources and methods.”

 “We provided clear, detailed information to Russian authorities about terrorist threat – terrorist threats against large gatherings and concerts – notable word – in Moscow, and unfortunately I have to leave it at that,” Miller assured, referring to warnings and embassy advisories on March 7 and 8 about a “terrorist threat to large gatherings” urging US nationals in the Russian capital to “avoid large gatherings” over a 48-hour period.

Miller dismissed as “categorically false,” “irresponsible,” and “cynical” comments by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova regarding the US role in creating IS, and the speed with which Washington rushed to reject the Kiev regime’s potential involvement in the attack. “Ukraine wasn’t behind these attacks. The UK wasn’t behind these attacks. The United States wasn’t behind these attacks,” he said.
Separately on Thursday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby went further, telling reporters that the US had not only informed Russia of the threat, but provided a “warning in writing to Russian security services.” The March 8 “public advisory” by the US Embassy “may have” even “deterred the attackers from attacking” on that day, Kirby claimed.